PODS® of Chicago, a moving and storage company, which teamed up with Great Lakes Credit Union to help collect donated books during a four-week “Stack the Books Drive” for Open Books, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides community programs and a bookstore to promote literacy for grades K – 12, exceeded its book donation goals.

“This ‘Stack for Books’ Drive was definitely the biggest drive we have done this year,” said Dustin Walsh, Stack the Books coordinator for Open Books. “A lot of Chicago public schools don’t have books available for kids to read, so this helps get books back to those Chicago public schools.”

The PODS container used to collect the books began accepting donations at Great Lakes Credit Union locations in Antioch, Waukegan, Naperville, and Country Club Hills. WLS radio also ran on-air promotions about the drive. Donations were then unloaded at the Open Books warehouse in Chicago. The books will be sold at the Open Books store on 213 W. Institute Place in Chicago, as well as online. Proceeds support the charity’s literacy programs.